During Chinas
Great Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976, the famous Little Red
Book, officially known as Quotations of Chairman Mao Zedong,
was a must-have item for the Chinese. It is estimated that during those years
altogether 5 billion copies of the collected Mao sayings were printed, which
came in 500 different editions and 50 languages. Back then, the total world
population was about 3 billion. So there was more than one and half a copy
of the little red book for every inhabitant on earth.

Unless otherwise
stated, the page number given for the source of a quotation refers to the first
English edition of the book or pamphlet cited as published by the Foreign Languages
Press, Peking.

In cases
where a word or phrase linked to the preceding text has been omitted in the
opening sentence of the quotation, an asterisk is placed after the source. This
is also done in a number of places where the English rendering has been reworded
to make up for omission of context or to improve the translation.

Translator

FOREWORD
TO THE SECOND EDITION

Comrade Mao
Tse-tung is the greatest Marxist-Leninist of our era. He has inherited, defended
and developed Marxism-Leninism with genius, creatively and comprehensively and
has brought it to a higher and completely new stage.
Mao Tse-tung's thought is Marxism-Leninism of the era in which imperialism is
heading for total collapse and socialism is advancing to world-wide victory.
It is a powerful ideological weapon for opposing imperialism and for opposing
revisionism and dogmatism. Mao Tse-tung's thought is the guiding principle for
all the work of the Party, the army and the country.

Therefore,
the most fundamental task in our Party's political and ideological work is at
all times to hold high the great red banner of Mao Tse-tung's thought, to arm
the minds of the people throughout the country with it and to persist in using
it to command every field of activity. The broad masses of the workers, peasants
and soldiers and the broad ranks of the revolutionary cadres and the intellectuals
should rcally master Mao Tse-tung's thought; they should all study Chairman
Mao's writings, follow his teachings, act according to his instructions and
be his good fighters.

In studying
the works of Chairman Mao, one should have specific problems in mind, study
and apply his works in a creative way, combine study with application, first
study what must be urgently applied so as to get quick results, and strive hard
to apply what one is studying. In order really to master Mao Tse-tung's thought,
it is essential to study many of Chairman Mao's basic concepts over and over
again, and it is best to memorize important statements and study and apply them
repeatedly. The newspapers should regularly carry quotations from Chairman Mao
relevant to current issues for readers to study and apply.

The experience
of the broad masses in their creative study and application of Chairman Mao's
works in the last few years has proved that to study selected quotations from
Chairman Mao with specific problems in mind is a good way to learn Mao Tse-tung's
thought, a method conducive to quick results.

We have compiled
Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung in order to help the broad masses learn
Mao Tse-tung's thought more effectively. In organizing their study, units should
select passages that are relevant to the situation, their tasks, the current
thinking of their personnel, and the state of their work.

In our great
motherland, a new era is emerging in which the workers, peasants and soldiers
are grasping Marxism-Leninism, Mao Tse-tung's thought. Once Mao Tse-tung's thought
is grasped by the broad masses, it becomes an inexhaustible source of strength
and a spiritual atom bomb of infinite power. The large-scale publication of
Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung is a vital measure for enabling the broad
masses to grasp Mao Tse-tung's thought and for promoting the revolutionization
of our people's thinking. It is our hope that all comrades will learn earnestly
and diligently, bring about a new nation-wide high tide in the creative study
and application of Chairman Mao's works and, under the great red banner of Mao
Tse-tung's thought, strive to build our country into a great socialist state
with modern agriculture, modern industry, modern science and culture and modern
national defence!